I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
I. Vocal Under A Bloodlight
Last night you said I was cold, untouchable
A lonely piece of action from another town
I just want to be free, I'm happy to be lonely
Can't you stay away?
Just leave me alone with my thoughts
Just a runaway, just a runaway
I'm saving myself
II. Passing Strangers
Strung out below a necklace of carnival lights
Cold moan, held on the crest of the night
I'm too tired to fight.
So now we're passing strangers, at single tables
Still trying to get over
Still trying to write love songs for passing strangers
All those passing strangers
And the twinkling lies, all those twinkling lies
Sparkle with the wet ink on the paper
III. Mylo
Oh I remember Toronto when Mylo went down
And we sat and cried on the phone
I never felt so alone
He was the first of our own
Some of us go down in a blaze of obscurity
Some of us go down in a haze of publicity
The price of infamy, the edge of insanity
Another Holiday Inn, another temporary home
And an interviewer threatened me with a microphone
'Talk to me, won't you tell me your stories."
So I talked about conscience and I talked about pain
And he looked out the window and it started to rain
I thought maybe I've already gone crazy
So I reached for a bottle and he reached for the door
And I picked up the sleeping pills crushed on the floor
Inviting me to a casual obscenity.
IV. Perimeter Walk
It would be incredible if we could
Retrace all the times that we lived here
All the collisions
Wasted, I've never been so wasted
I've never been this far out before
Perimeter walk
There's a presence here
I feel could have been ancient,
I could have been mystical
There's a presence
A child, my child
My childhood, a misplaced childhood
Give it back to me, give it back to me
A childhood, that childhood
Oh please give it back to me.
V. Threshold
I saw a war widow in a launderette
Washing the memories from her husband's clothes
She had medals pinned to a threadbare greatcoat
A lump in her throat with cemetery eyes
I see convoys curbcrawling West German Autobahns
Trying to pick up a war
They're going to even the score
Oh... I can't take any more
I see black flags on factories
Soup ladies poised on the lips of the poor
I see children with vacant stares, destined for rape in the alleyways
Does anybody care, I can't take any more!
Should we say goodbye?
I see priests, politicians?
Heroes in black plastic body-bags under nations' flags
I see children pleading with outstretched hands
Drenched in napalm, this is no Vietnam
I can't take any more, should we say goodbye
How can we justify?
They call us civilised!
Last night you said I was cold, untouchable
A lonely piece of action from another town
I just want to be free, I'm happy to be lonely
Can't you stay away?
Just leave me alone with my thoughts
Just a runaway, just a runaway
I'm saving myself
II. Passing Strangers
Strung out below a necklace of carnival lights
Cold moan, held on the crest of the night
I'm too tired to fight.
So now we're passing strangers, at single tables
Still trying to get over
Still trying to write love songs for passing strangers
All those passing strangers
And the twinkling lies, all those twinkling lies
Sparkle with the wet ink on the paper
III. Mylo
Oh I remember Toronto when Mylo went down
And we sat and cried on the phone
I never felt so alone
He was the first of our own
Some of us go down in a blaze of obscurity
Some of us go down in a haze of publicity
The price of infamy, the edge of insanity
Another Holiday Inn, another temporary home
And an interviewer threatened me with a microphone
'Talk to me, won't you tell me your stories."
So I talked about conscience and I talked about pain
And he looked out the window and it started to rain
I thought maybe I've already gone crazy
So I reached for a bottle and he reached for the door
And I picked up the sleeping pills crushed on the floor
Inviting me to a casual obscenity.
IV. Perimeter Walk
It would be incredible if we could
Retrace all the times that we lived here
All the collisions
Wasted, I've never been so wasted
I've never been this far out before
Perimeter walk
There's a presence here
I feel could have been ancient,
I could have been mystical
There's a presence
A child, my child
My childhood, a misplaced childhood
Give it back to me, give it back to me
A childhood, that childhood
Oh please give it back to me.
V. Threshold
I saw a war widow in a launderette
Washing the memories from her husband's clothes
She had medals pinned to a threadbare greatcoat
A lump in her throat with cemetery eyes
I see convoys curbcrawling West German Autobahns
Trying to pick up a war
They're going to even the score
Oh... I can't take any more
I see black flags on factories
Soup ladies poised on the lips of the poor
I see children with vacant stares, destined for rape in the alleyways
Does anybody care, I can't take any more!
Should we say goodbye?
I see priests, politicians?
Heroes in black plastic body-bags under nations' flags
I see children pleading with outstretched hands
Drenched in napalm, this is no Vietnam
I can't take any more, should we say goodbye
How can we justify?
They call us civilised!
Lyrics submitted by BitterBosh
Blind Curve Lyrics as written by Mark Kelly Derek William Dick
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is also one of my fave Marillion songs. It was this album, and possibly this song, that got me into 'real' music when everyone else was raving about Duran Duran etc.
For me this whole piece is pretty much along the same lines that everyone else has said. However, I think it is possible to break each piece down.
I. Vocal Under A Bloodlight This is shortly after a casual relationship. The singer is introverted as has been noticed by his 'other half'. This is the start of this part of the story.
II. Passing Strangers Realising that all the casual relationships have no greater depth to them and, ultimately, both parties are just strangers to one another. There is no rectreating what was lost as there is nothing to recreate. This leads to further depression and isolation.
III. Mylo This song has special meaning to me which I needn't go into here. However, this part relates to John Mylett a friend of the band who died in a car crash. Fish still had to do interviews and his only solace was prescription (and not so prescription) drugs.
IV. Perimeter Walk The most obscure part probably brought on by the acid that prompted the album in the first place. He seems to want his childhood back - when everything was trivial and there was no pain to deal with.
V. Threshold To what "threshold" Fish is referring to I have no idea. However, this part is obviously referring to the state of the country/world in the mid 80s. How can children stay innocent and how can we let them grow up into this world that we can't even handle as adults?
Conclusion An awesome 'song' probably one of their best that wraps up the most common adult emotions along with the realisation that the world is totaly fugazi :)
The best (and even consistent) review of this song made of a serie of little parts. Tnx!